WOMEN IN SUGAR – MARYANN SALVETTI

Getting to know your business builds confidence and reaps opportunity," says Maryann Salvetti, Co-Managing Director Salvetti Farming Co and Chair, Far Northern Milling Pty Ltd.

In 1977 Maryann Gauci holidayed in Far North Queensland, an escape from her native Melbourne and its unpredictable seasons. Two years later she would marry third generation Atherton Tablelands farmer Dennis Salvetti.

Over the next four decades (and counting) along with her husband Maryann would establish several successful agriculture businesses and become the first chairperson of Far Northern Milling Pty Ltd.

“I am a person who thrives on challenges. What motivates me is succeeding in things that other people wouldn’t try and do,” Maryann said.

“For instance, buying Mossman Mill with a group of growers. No one else was interested, but I could see that the community needed the mill to stay alive. Forming a cooperative to control our own destiny really drove me, it excited me to change the face of the milling industry and give longevity to the industry in both Mossman and the Tablelands.” Leaving family behind in Victoria in the ‘70s was hard for Maryann but she immediately embraced life on her new husband’s Tolga farm.

“In the early years I didn’t have a big role in the farm because I was raising children. But it was all an adventure.

“I did spend a lot of my time answering the phone, which of course was a landline, there were no mobile phones then. People would call during the day to talk to ‘the farmer. They didn’t want to speak to me, so I found myself taking lots of messages for Dennis. I soon learnt that if I wanted to spend some quality time with my husband, I had to make sure he wasn’t on the phone all evening returning those calls.

“That’s probably where my passion for farming started. With Dennis’ support I got involved in making decisions. I started to run the seed side of the business, doing all the marketing and building up sales.”

In 1996 when a call went out to form a much-needed canegrowers organisation in the area Maryann stepped forwarded.

“I thought, yeah, I’ll have a go at that, it’s something different. We hadn’t been in cane long at that point but I knew enough and I was keen to know more. Doing that, stepping up, opened up my world.”

Maryann admits that she hasn’t found being a woman in agriculture a hurdle and credits her confidence and ability to ‘give anything a go’ to her father, along with the support of her husband.

“I think the hardest thing for women is having the confidence to get up at meetings and have their say,” Maryann said.

“To do that you need to know what you’re talking about. It’s important for women to get involved and understand how their business runs, and how the industry runs.

“I know a lot of women who tend to sit back and not have their say because they’re scared of what people will say. But most women in agriculture are there because they have a passion for it, and that’s how it should be, I don’t agree with people being there because ‘it’s their right’, male or female. But if you’re there, you have to be invested, stand up and have your say; let your ideas be heard; or take your place at a boardroom table and make decisions for your growers. You’ll be so pleased you did.”

A mother of three and grandmother of seven Maryann says she has no intention of retiring (but don’t tell Dennis).

to understand and be informed about water quality issues and the impacts of climate change.

“I'm passionate about it and I think involvement in all of these organisations gives me a better understanding of these industry issues. I think knowledge is power, and the more accurate knowledge you can obtain, the better equipped you are to contribute to collaborations and to respond to questions.”

It makes for little in the way of spare time, yet Lisa still manages to create space for some early morning horse riding at the start of the day and is grateful for the support of a strong family network from her in-laws locally and her parents in New South Wales.

“They are wonderfully supportive in any way they can possibly be, so we're very, very lucky. I feel incredibly fortunate to be in the situation that I'm in.” “I'm thoroughly enjoying my role as chair of Far Northern Milling and I hope I’ve still got quite a number of years' there to do what I want to achieve. Outside of the mill, my main goal is to make sure that the businesses that my husband and I have setup continue to grow with my children.

“My sons both work in the businesses, and for the last two or three years my daughter and daughter-in-law have come to work with us, and in that short time I can see the confidence building in them as they understand what we do and their role in it.

“With confidence comes opportunity. And when opportunity is available you’ve got to be able to run with it. And a lot of women are very good at that. They are multiskilled, they can multitask.

“As far as I’m concerned if you’re a confident person you can take on the world, but you don’t have to do that on your own, there are plenty of people out there – male and female - who can and will help you. Just don’t be afraid to ask.”